The Singapore Garden Festival is held once every 2 years . This is the 4th time that Singapore is holding the festival with the first being in the year 2006 .

Singapore Garden Festival | A Global Showcase

The Singapore Garden Festival has attracted many award winning garden and floral designers from all over the world under ONE roof . This year , there are 40 international garden and floral designers from 20 countries . To allow more visitors to the Singapore Garden festival , the festival has been extended by 1 more day to nine instead of the standard 8 , covering 2 weekends . There are 3 new additions to this year’s festival , the Balcony Gardens , The Table series and Land art display

Singapore Garden Festival | Fantasy Gardens

Northern Light

Designer : Alex Bartlett & Robert Boltman (Canada)

Concept :The Canada’s northern territories are fast changing due to the effects of climate change . The Inuit people of Canada rely on their ancient knowledge and wisdom passed from their forefathers . The Garden pays homage to the traditional skills and artistry of the Inuit culture . The Igloo was made of locally available resources and material to create warm , wind proof shelter for the nomadic people . The creation is to demonstrate how traditional methods and ways can still be relevant in our modern world today

Northern Light won the Silver Award in this year Singapore Garden Festival

Garden of Tales

Designer : Damian Tang (Singapore)

Concept : Inspired by children’s love for fairy tales , this garden strives to create an experience that leaves us in anticipation of the next magical moment . There are so many stories to tell and so many things to see in this wonderful garden that is artistically done with alot of special moments to remember .

The “Garden of Tales” won 2 GOLD awards in this Festival .There are so much to see in this garden that is filled with childhood fairy tales . You get to see Red Riding Hood , Thumbelina , The 7 dwarfs , Pinnochio , Alice in Wonderland and many other bedtime stories . Children would love them . With so much level of details and effort put in , no wonder it won the GOLD awards in this year Singapore Garden Festival . Good job to the Damian tang and his team !!

Luminiscent Perspective

Designer : John Cullen (U.S.A) .

Luminiscent Perspective won a GOLD in Singapore Garden Festival

Garden of Hearts

Designer : Wang XiangRong (China)

Ruaumoko

Designer : Danny Kamo & Andy Ellis (New Zealand)

Upturned Splendour

Designer : Eliam Eng (Singapore) .

“Upturned Splendour” illuminates the power we have to see and create beauty in the unlikeliest situations ; the same power , to live in harmony with Nature , that we should master , not abuse

Elementary Garden

Mazu’s Garden

Designer : Andrew Seccull (Australia)

Singapore Garden Festival | Landscape Gardens

Open to Nature – Beyond Tradition

Designer : John Tan Chee Hian (Singapore)

The Open to Nature won the SILVER Medal Award in the Singapore Garden Festival 2012

The Path of Life

Designer : Paul Martin (Ireland)

Concept :Contemporary in style , the garden aims to show that as we journey through life , there are many wonderful sights along the way . We exist in nature , and with nature , and if we look after her , our journey will be a memorable and beautiful one

Path of Life won the GOLD Medal for this year Singapore Garden Festival 2012

Continental Drift

Designer : Sarah Eberle (United Kingdom)

Continental Drift won the Gold Medal this year . This Garden aim to be an exciting visual exhibit which address the issue og habitat and environmental concerns

Fu-Chi-Tei

Designer : Koji Ninomiya (Japan)

Fu-Chi-Tei is a Silver Medalist in The Singapore Garden Festival 2012 . This garden is base on Japanese Philosophy which incorporates Buddhism , Shintoism , Yin-Yang principles , Taoism and the Japanese concept of nature . Fi-Chi-Tei invites allto embark on a journey to the pure land where you can seek inner peace

What you see is what you think

Designer : Fumiko Sano (Singapore)

Concept : A Silver Medalist , this garden aims to encourage public participation in the discover of Singapore cultural landscape

Upper Hand

Designer : Andy Sturgeon (United Kingdom)

Concept :

This garden acknowledges that man can make an intervention in nature but cannot conquer it . Ultimately nature gets the Upper Hand . There has to be an equilibrium and balance between man and his environment.

The garden is inspired by the Barcelona pavilion of Mies Van der Rohe .

Upper Hand won 2 GOLD medals in the Singapore Garden Festival 2012

Singapore Garden Festival | Floral Windows to the world

Floral Kaleidoscope

Designer : Harijanto Setiawan (Floral Designers Society Singapore)

The “Floral Kaleidoscope” won the GOLD in the Floral Windows to the World category in Singapore Garden Festival 2012 . Make use of lightings to good effects

Emblem of Resilience

Designer : Irene Hee (Floriculture Association of Singapore)

Beyond White

Designer : Zita Elze (Brazil)

Darkness in flames

Designer : Brigitte Heinrichs (Germany)

Realising Beauty

Designer : Mark Pampling (Australia)

Fountain of Life

Designer : Anson Low (Singapore)

Circle of Dreams

Designer : Garrik Goh

Web of Life

Designer : Solomon leong (Hong Kong)

The Transformation

Designer : Ong Cheng Lang (Siungapore)

Global Warming

Designer : Pirjo Koppi (Finland)

I Can Fly

Designer : Alex Choi (Korea)

Botanical Mysticism

Designer : Max van de Sluis (The Netherlands)

The Incredible Lightness of Being

Designer : Per Benjamin (Sweden)

Designer : Thomas De Bruyne (Belgium)

Singapore Garden Festival | Balcony Gardens

This is meant for apartment dwellers where there are many ideas and tips to showcase the balcony gardens . Many design themes are available along with the types of plants that are easy to maintain and to take care of in this Garden Festival .

Singapore Garden Festival | Table Series

This focus on table arrangement where visitors get to know what types of plants and accessories are required to make a make a well decorated table for whatever occasions .

Singapore Garden Festival | Flower arrangement

Singapore Garden Festival | Land Art

In this series , one gets to see how to make use of natural itemsSingapore Garden Festival | Land Art such as twigs , dried leaves , rocks to create a unique art form . The whole idea is to make use of organic and natural items easily found and available to create art .

Singapore Garden Festival | Bonsai

Singapore Garden Festival | Orchids and plants

Our national flower is Miss Vanda Joachim and naturally we showcase orchids . One get to see orchids from all over the world which doe s not exist in Singapore due to its hot and humid environment . Orchids from other temperate countries with unusual colours and petal shapes are simply amazing .

NDP 2012 Singapore | 7th July rehearsal

The theme for National Day Parade (NDP) 2012 is “Loving Singapore, Our Home” .

We have tickets for the NDP 2012 full dress rehearsal on 7th July . We collected our “funpack” , which comes in 4 different designs , and off we go to the floating platform . For more information about this year NDP 2012 , you can checkout the following websites

NDP 2012 Singapore | The Rehearsal

NDP 2012 Singapore | The Fireworks

The Johor Premium Outlets (JPO) opened on Dec 2nd 2011 . This is a joint venture between Genting berhad and Simon Property Group . That’s why you see Resort World advertisement at the Johor Premium Outlets too . This shopping centre boast as the First Premium Outlet Center in South East Asia with more than 80 branded stores offering daily discounts of up to 80% . With such a publicity and reviews on the internet , i decided to drop by to take a look myself …. some 6 months after the official opening

Johor Premium Outlets | My road trip to JPO

The first mistake i made was checking with the locals who told us that there are many sign boards guiding us to the Johor Premium Outlets on the (North-South) highway . Well , how untrue . If you are traveling on the expressway towards the direction of KL , do exit at Exit 304 , and then exit 302A . Do not use the old scudai road because i simply cannot find any JPO signboards when i exited the highway accidentally . So , use the highway .

Johor Premium Outlets | Car park and eateries

It cost me RM3.00 (when i left) which looks like per entry type charges since the person before me was also was paying RM3.00 . Went over to a place which has many different stalls to look for lunch , very much like a hawker centre or a food court . Quite a few varieties but prices are relatively expensive per local Johorian standard . I settled for Ginseng chicken from “xxxx Kung Fu” shop costing RM13.90 . Feels like Singapore food court prices for Ginseng Chicken (SGD$5.00) but …. it has only 2 tiny pieces of chicken meat in the soup and that’s it !! For RM13.90 with 2 tiny pieces of meat , its EXPENSIVE even for a Singaporean !!

Pickup an ordinary T-shirt at Armani store . Its showed RM1999.00 with 50% discount . That’s close to RM1000.oo (or SGD$400.00) after discount . Well , the t-shirt is so ordinary which is yellow in color , normal cotton fabric and no different from a normal t-shirt that you can get for SGD$20.00 .

Next , i dropped by CK and they showed me the items on sale at 50% . I recognize some pieces that i bought at CK over at Isetan Scotts a few years ago . After the 50% discount , the t-shirt is retailing at RM250.00 (SGD$100.00) . I bought mine at SGD$50.00 each a few years ago . After a hefty 50% discount and its still 2x more expensive than in Singapore !!

Most of the “branded” stores are not “classy” . In fact they are very simply done without that elegant and “expensive” look or taste . There are very limited items to choose from and mostly are outdated (according to my other half) . For me , i really don’t mine if the t-shirt is not their latest as long as they are comfortable to wear , nice to feel , good fabric and pleasant looking . I don’t mind if I have to pay for good material or workmanship but it must offer that value .

Johor Premium Outlets | Factory outlets

There are some factory outlets over at Johor Premium Outlets . Pop by these outlets but i must say they aren’t the type of quality that we expect . If you want to buy some items from the factory outlet at Johor Premium Outlets , do check the stitches and joining areas of fabric because they seem like “minor” rejects to me . Some of the clothes seem to have uneven width of stitches (left and right shoulder sleeves) done on them , which i consider as “minor” defects .

Johor Premium Outlets | My personal assessment

Personally , i am trying to understand their business over at Johor Premium Outlets . I was trying to understand the following

who are their targeted customers ? Fellow Singaporeans ?

what are their value proposition to their targeted customers ? It cannot be price or varieties ? Service ? I don’t think so

do they know who are their competitors ?

Today’s shoppers are very different , especially Singaporeans . Singaporeans shops around the world , HongKong , Thailand , China , United States , etc . Coupled with the Internet , they can always check the items out physically at the branded store at Orchard Road and purchase the same item on the internet . With a single touch on the smartphone , we can access the internet to find out the prices before making any purchase .

So for these retailers , what value can they bring to the consumer ? Value needs to be genuine and not through some high markup and then , mark down prices . 6 months after the opening , the car parks are empty . I can understand why . Products are not only limited with few varieties , they are outdated and yet expensive . This is my first trip to Johor Premium Outlets and i don’t see any reason why anyone would want to shop there . I certainly would not recommend it to my friends if it stays on like this .

Today , June 5th 2012 , the newspaper reported that the person who pasted the mysterious stickers and painted the road and buildings was caught . [See full report here] . Hopefully the authorities will give her a warning and nothing too serious , for the authorities will have to deter others from doing similar stunts in future . So hopefully , a stern warning will do as the intentions does not appear to cause any severe harm .

I try to find some images and i found some at Andrew’s loh website , and [here is the link] .

Here are some of the pictures from his site for easy reference .

We are still very much a society where things are assumed cannot do unless being told otherwise …

Here is some interesting stuff that i come across …. in case fellow readers don’t know

MMMM! | Uniquely Singapore

What a name !!! This photo was taken a Changi City Point and i was puzzled by the name . Well its seems like MMMM stands for Meats , Marinates & Much More … They have 4 outlets in Singapore . Here is their website

Georges Mad Bar & cafe | Uniquely Singapore

I was strolling along East Coast Road and these 2 sign boards caught my attention . The first sign board has a “Drunken fella crossing” the road with a bottle in his hand

The 2nd has “Free BEER” ….. not actually it seems .

Noticed the RED Circle …. it says WIFI !!!

Large Fan | Uniquely Singapore

These must be the largest ceiling fans that i have come across . Pretty good . I like the breeze it generates . You will find them at Junction 8

Who says we can’t do ice skating in sunny Singapore ? We do not only have ONE , but 3 ice skating rinks . The latest is at JCUBE Mall in Jurong East Central .

Ice skating | Jcube mall

The ice skating rink measures 60 m x 30 m and have a seating capacity of 460 . This olympic size ice skating rink was opened just last month , 3rd April 2012 . Surrounding the rink is a lot of eateries so you can enjoy looking at the skaters and eat at the same time . With the hot heat reaching 33 C for the last few days , it is a great feeling getting into Jcube with the cooler than normal temperatures . You will see the skaters wearing sweaters or colder garments , probably because they use real ice .

Ice skating | Other places in Singapore

Singapore’s first ice skating rink is at Kallang Leisure Park . The rink has a gallery style spectator seating . You can enrol in their ice skating courses for beginners [here] . Singapore’s second ice skating rink is at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands . This is a 600sqm rink but they don’t use real ice . With plastic ice , you don’t need to maintain a lower temperature unlike real ice I guess , and therefore some savings in the electrical bills .

Ice skating | What’s next ?

Now that we have 3 ice skating rinks , i wonder when are they going to have skiing in Singapore ?

This is really uniquely singapore , for it can only be found in singapore’s food court or our local hawker centers . If this ever happen in other countries , there is a 98% probability it has to be , or i must say , must be , the work of a Singaporean !!!

Uniquely Singapore | Alone in a crowded food court

Singaporeans simply love to eat . You will noticed that a lot of our food courts are packed with people during lunch time . Finding a seat to have your peaceful lunch can be a nightmare . You see , during lunch time peak hours in a food court , if you are alone you will have problem finding a seat to eat your meals unless you do what a typical Singaporean does …. “chope-ing” or reserving seats at the food court !!

You certainly do not want to part with your wallet or handphone to “chope” seats , incase they go MIA (Missing In Action) , so we use whatever arsenals we have to “chope” the seats that we have been eye-ing for such a loooong time .What arsenals one might ask ?

Uniquely Singapore | Host of Arsenal

In uniquely singapore , we share with our readers some of the common arsenal used to “chope” seats

most common items used to “chope” seats are a packet of tissues , umbrellas , company’s badges and name cards .

sometimes we encounter extremely “strange objects” such as a bible or even a shoe . What will they think of next ?

Uniquely Singapore | what are the actions needed ?

If you are alone , then do grab your food first and then look for a seat . Its unfortunate but i guess that the best gentlemanly act that one could possibly do , else don’t compete during lunch peak hours .

If you have a friend , then by all means have someone to “reserve” by occupying the seat . But however , no matter what , please do not bring this strange and uniquely singapore culture and duplicate it in some other countries ….